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THE CENTRALITY OF FRESHWATER IN OUR LIVES CANNOT BE OVERESTIMATED.
Water has been a major factor in the rise and fall of civilizations. It has been a source of tensions and fierce competition between nations that could become even worse if present trends continue. Lack of access to water for meeting basic needs such as health, hygiene and food security undermines development and inflicts enormous hardship on more than a billion members of the human family.
And its quality reveals everything, right or wrong, that we do in safeguarding the global environment. But if the water problems facing our world are sometimes a cause of tension and concern, they can also be a catalyst for cooperation. Two thirds of the world’s major rivers are shared by several states. More than 300 rivers cross national boundaries.
Increasingly, countries with expertise in the management of watersheds and flood plains, or with experience in efficient irrigation, are sharing that knowledge and technology with others. Scientists from many nations and disciplines are pooling their efforts, assessing risks and working to bring about a much-needed ‘blue revolution’ in agricultural productivity. Policy-makers can and should draw on these experiences, which have generated a rich inventory of lessons and ‘best practices’.
With these issues in mind, the nations of the world have established a comprehensive and demanding water resources agenda. In the Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly in 2000, world leaders resolved ‘to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water’, and ‘to stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources’. Water resources also figured prominently at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The Plan of Implementation adopted there reiterated the Millennium Development Goal on water, set a new target of halving the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation by 2015, and recognized the key role of water in combating poverty and in the realms of agriculture, energy, health, biodiversity and ecosystems.
This first edition of the World Water Development Report, Water for People, Water for Life, is the main outcome of the World Water Assessment Programme, a long-term project started in response to decisions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Sustainable Development. A joint project involving twenty-three United Nations specialized agencies and other entities, it provides a comprehensive view of today’s water problems and offers wide-ranging recommendations for meeting future water demand. This coincides with the International Year of Freshwater, which is being observed throughout 2003.
Finally, it shows the United Nations at work, helping the world to confront current and impending water crises. I recommend this publication to the widest possible audience.
Kofi Annan
Secretary General, United Nations
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